Charity fraud: Websites claiming to collect donations for Hurricane Katrina victims; phony e-mails pretending to be from well-known charities soliciting money; online auctions of internet domain names with Katrina-related addresses, such as katrinaourtsunami.com - days after the hurricane, internet opportunists are already trying to cash in on public sympathy for Katrina's victims.
Within the past 24 hours, several websites have emerged, promising to forward money to relief workers. Bearing such names as katrinahelp.com, katrinadonations.com and katrinarelief.com, they ask for money to be sent through Paypal, but there's no way to verify who's getting the money.
EBay has halted an online auction of several Katrina-related website names, such as ourtsunami2005.com. Bidding was to start at $15,000, and the seller promised to deliver half of the final winning bid amount to the American Red Cross. EBay allows sellers to dedicate a portion of their profits to charities, but requires the seller to either sign up for eBay's own giving programme or obtain permission from the charity first. Red Cross officials said no such permission had been granted, and eBay said it terminated the auction because the seller did not observe company rules on charitable giving.
After last year's tsunami in Indonesia, a survey of the web by MasterCard International and the online security company NameProtect Inc found more than 170 tsunami-related scam sites being used to siphon donations to relief efforts.
Using a technique known as "phishing", such sites or e-mails pretend to represent a legitimate company, such as a credit card firm, to get consumers to post personal information such as a credit card number or bank account.
On Wednesday, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the agency was investigating reports of fraudsters using e-mail and websites to impersonate legitimate fundraising and relief organisations related to the hurricane. "People who want to make a donation or contribute to a cause should actively seek out reputable organisations and then contact them by telephone or by typing their web address into a web browser," Mr Bresson said. "The important point is that they initiate this contact on their own."
Federal Trade Commission spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell cautioned consumers never to click on any link in an e-mail solicitation because consumers may end up at a phony site that looks real, but is only a set-up by identity thieves to get confidential information.
"If you get an e-mail from the Red Cross, close the e-mail and go to the Red Cross website as you otherwise would, through a search engine, phone or regular mail," she said.
It's not just solicitations consumers need to worry about. Security experts also caution computer users to remain vigilant against e-mails claiming to contain attached photos of the disaster, because clicking on such files could launch a virus or worm.
Fraud watchers said Americans who want to make contributions should stick to websites of established national charities. The website for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (www.fema.gov/news) also lists a number of websites where people can send donations securely to legitimate charities, as does www.give.org, part of the charity-monitoring service of the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Art Taylor, president of the BBB's Wise Giving Alliance, said consumers should not be in a hurry to contribute.
"Be careful about new charities that spring up overnight. They may have good intentions, but they don't have the means or experience to deliver aid. And there's no need to feel you need to do something immediate.
"What charities can possibly be on the ground right now providing services? We can barely get soldiers and other relief people into the area to help. You have time to be deliberative and think through how you want to help. Check out the organisation first." - (LA Times-Washington Post)